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Elder & Sister Young in the England-London South Mission

Hurry before it’s September!

Very late on our August blog — but it did get done before September! We have had some very warm days in the 80’s which with no air conditioning have been very hard. We keep the windows open with fans in opposite windows to keep the air flowing. It has been hard to sleep in the humidity, so we purchased a humidifier also. Suddenly it cooled down and we are in the 60s and 70s so that is much better. We are starting to see the very first leaves turn colors, so fall is coming quickly.

We have been visiting more local sites, this is Leeds Castle, which is perhaps the most impressive one from the air. It has a huge moat so the castle seems to be floating on water. This is the Tower of London with some of the 888,000 ceramic poppies that will be placed between July and November in remembrance of those who lost their lives in WWI.

We have had another funeral in the ward and another wedding, one of our young single adult ladies who found a returned missionary while at a YSA convention. They were married at the chapel, travelled to the local registrar to register the marriage, returned for the reception and then went to the London Temple to be sealed. It is required by law here that they are married civilly first, then they are encouraged to be sealed the same day at the temple. The happy couple have moved to Norway, his home country.

Our daughter and her partner were able to come and visit us for the weekend before heading to Paris for the Women’s Rugby World Cup. We enjoyed visiting the London Zoo and other sites. They also announced that they are expecting our fourth grandchild in February 2015!

This week was moves and there were so many missionaries coming and going that it took three days to shift them all around. We had 10 go home and 20 new ones. We drove missionaries on Tuesday and on Wednesday, then bought, delivered, and put together furniture for the Hastings sisters’ new flat. Then we helped serve breakfast and lunch for the mission leaders conference. After cleaning up after lunch, we and the other senior couple went to Windsor Castle which was near by. The original castle was built in the 11th century after the Norman invasion by William the Conqueror. Since the time of Henry I, it has been used by succeeding monarchs and is the longest-occupied palace in Europe.It is used by the queen and her family nowadays; they spend many weekends there. It is very large, very beautiful, and very well maintained. The changing of the guard happens every other day, but we missed it. They have turned the old (interior) moat into a garden, which is a nice way to keep it useful.

Well, we have been here over a year now, as of September 8th we will only have nine months left. We have a list of things we want to do and places to go so we can fit them all in before we are gone. We continue to be busy, happy, and mostly healthy! We love you all and miss you when we aren’t busy. Please keep in touch by email or facebook!